Call centers are crowded locations in which agents sit next to each other making phone calls to customers. As a result, these phone calls contain much ambient noise that is caused due to the physical conditions that exist in the call centers.
Call centers highly appreciate customer satisfaction as one of the key factors of the quality of their service. One of the parameters that influence customer satisfaction is the sound quality of the phone call. For example, if during the call the customer, in addition to hearing the agent with whomever he/she is talking, also hears other agents talking with their customers, such would be considered unprofessional and in some cases even reveal private data of the other customers. As another example, during a call, a customer suddenly hears the supervisor of the call center announcing a message or speaking loudly with agents. This ambient noise in the phone calls impacts the overall satisfaction of the customer.
In addition, this ambient noise can expose private user data. For example, during a call with an agent the customer overhears another agent talking to another customer and verifying his/her credit card number. As a result, the credit card information is now heard by a person who was not supposed to hear it.
Call centers are not indifferent to this problem and try to reduce its severity in multiple ways. One way is by enforcing a code of behavior instructing all people in the call center to keep their voices down and to avoid making loud noises. Another way to reduce the ambient noise is to physically increase the isolation between agents, for example, by increasing the distance between the agents and/or building separating structures between them. Another way to reduce the ambient noise is to purchase, for each agent, expensive headsets that have noise reduction capabilities. Overall, all the above methods help reduce the ambient noise, but they cannot always be used and, even when they are used, they do not solve the problem that still remains a major concern to call center management.